My First Election As An Atheist
It feels different this time.
Let me start by saying that my journey from being a Christian believer to becoming an atheist took place over the past five years. It was a fairly slow and gradual process and it was not one that I was looking for. During the 2016 election, I still considered myself a Christian believer.
Growing up, I’ve always held fairly common and traditional religious (Christian) beliefs. Ideas or concepts like:
1. There is a divine plan
2. Someone/something created everything and is in control of all things
3. Things always work out for the best/according to God’s plan
4. Prophecy is real and is being fulfilled
So when Trump won in 2016, I was surprised but then quickly settled in that it ‘must be part of the plan’.
There are a few obvious flaws with this logic that I pretty much just ignored rather than try to explain or justify. Like if Trump was part of ‘the plan’, then that would also mean that Obama was also part of that same plan. (For those who are unaware, many Christians are big fans of Trump for his support of religion and many were/are also very anti-Obama.)
I remember when Obama won in 2008. At the time, I was a full-time eBay seller and I would pack a few hundred boxes every day while listening to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. I would listen to both of their full shows, every day, for months leading up Obama’s election.
In 2008, I was actually convinced that Obama could be the Christian anti-Christ! It honestly feels a little crazy to write that today. As a former Christian, I feel as though I have a fairly empathetic view on all of this. While I may see it as crazy now, I also understand why I didn’t see it as crazy back then (and I can also understand why other people (and current Christians) can come to such conclusions).
Part of it has to do with a big word, presuppositionalism.
“Presuppositionalism is a school of Christian apologetics that believes the Christian faith is the only basis for rational thought. It presupposes that the Bible is divine revelation and attempts to expose flaws in other worldviews.”
So if you presuppose that the Bible is TRUE, then that will frame all of the other claims about the world around us. If the Bible says that in the future there will be a character called the anti-Christ, then, by-golly, be on the lookout!
Some of the more well-known and commonly accepted traits of the anti-Christ include being a charismatic leader, able to deceive believers, and be able to bring peace (supposedly to Israel and the Middle East).
“The Antichrist will not be so called; otherwise he would have no followers… he will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity and plenty not as means to lead us to God, but as ends in themselves.”
Oh no! Could this be Obama? From a presuppositionalist standpoint, it’s not terribly illogical and not that much of a stretch.
When Obama was elected in 2008, I remember not wanting to watch the news. This wasn’t supposed to happen! There was no way that Obama becoming president could be part of the divine plan.
But it DID happen and that MUST mean that it WAS part of the plan after all! Otherwise, my long-held belief that a divine creator with a perfect plan wasn’t actually in charge. That possibility is a HUGE reason why it can be so difficult (if not impossible) for believers to change/update their views and beliefs.
My presuppositional views forced me to accept that God must have wanted Obama to be president and that God was still in charge and God would somehow still advance God’s plan for the world through Obama, even if Obama was potentially the literal anti-Christ.
Well, the world survived Obama and in 2016 we got Donald Trump. At the time, I did not expect Trump to actually win, but when he did, I remember laying on the couch and letting reality settle in. OK, God, not what I expected, but you’re in control of all this and things ALWAYS work out according to your plan and will, so I guess it’s all good.
Since then, I’ve lost my religious views and now identify as an atheist. This means losing the belief that we are all just passive players in some cosmic video game where someone else is in charge. I no longer believe that all decisions are predestined nor that, while sometimes mysterious, everything always works out as a part of a ‘good’ divine plan.
That means that we are responsible for our decisions. We are responsible for the outcomes of elections. We are responsible for our actions. We are responsible for the world that we create for ourselves and our children. When things don’t go as planned, IT’S OUR FAULT.
If things aren’t going well, it’s our duty and responsibility to update and change things. Realizing that things aren’t optimal for all people means that we have to first ADMIT that mistakes have been made and commit to being better. This means accepting responsibility and admitting fault. It means not being able to fall back on ‘God works in mysterious ways’ when kids die from cancer or another black man is shot and killed by police.
Sometimes things don’t always work out. Bad things happen to good people. We can’t just throw judgment to the wind and expect everything to be fine. We have to make a world where everyone has access to the same opportunities. We have to take care of our environment and care for the less fortunate.
I hope that my example helps someone. Maybe you are struggling with old beliefs that don’t seem to make sense anymore or you’re fighting a history of indoctrination. Maybe this helps you understand why friends or family see the world in a very specific and certain why and you’re frustrated why they seem unable to see things from your perspective.
It’s liberating to no longer be under this kind of belief system but it is also SCARY. I’ve been forced to suddenly realize that I can no longer ‘pass the buck’ of responsibility and assign responsibility for events on a mysterious outside force.
So while this is scary, it also comes with a new sense of optimism that we can build a future where everyone is happy, we all win, and elections don’t mean that anyone has to ‘lose’.
